The US soldier accused of downloading 250,000 sensitive cables and passing them to WikiLeaks is being treated like an inmate at Guantanamo Bay, an MP said today.

Labour’s Ann Clwyd (Cynon Valley) said there was “considerable interest” in the case of Bradley Manning as his mother Susan was Welsh and he was for a time educated in Wales.

She called on Commons leader Sir George Young to grant a debate about the way the soldier was being treated while in detention awaiting trial in the US.

The MP said: “Can we have a debate on the treatment of Bradley Manning, the young US soldier who is held in solitary confinement in the United States, accused of passing on information to WikiLeaks?

“His mother is Welsh, he attended school in Wales for a time. There is considerable interest in his case which I would say is similar to that meted out at Guantanamo Bay.”

Sir George replied: “I understand the concern you express which I think is widely shared. I can’t promise a debate in Government time but it does sound to me an appropriate debate for Westminster Hall in the next few weeks.”

Last week President Barack Obama said that he had been assured by the Pentagon that the army private was being held under appropriate conditions.

Manning is being detained in solitary confinement for 23 hours a day at a Marine Corps brig in Quantico, Virginia, and is stripped naked each night and given a suicide-proof smock to wear to bed.

His lawyer calls the treatment degrading while Amnesty International says it may violate Manning’s human rights.

The 23-year-old from Crescent, Oklahoma, has now been charged with aiding the enemy, a crime which can bring the death penalty or life imprisonment.